OUK) CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 060 289 307 OLIN LIBRARY-GRCULATiON" DATE DUE PRINTED INU. •. A. The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924060289307 Production Note Cornell University Library pro- duced this volume to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. It was scanned using Xerox soft- ware and equipment at 600 dots per inch resolution and com- pressed prior to storage using CCITT Group 4 compression. The digital data were used to create Cornell's replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Stand- ard Z39. 48-1984. The production of this volume was supported in part by the Commission on Pres- ervation and Access and the Xerox Corporation. Digital file copy- right by Cornell University Library 1991. towell Uramitg J XhtMQ BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME j FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF 1891 A^WAl? Jxn.hi 5931 THE HYSTERIA OF LADY MACBETH THE HYSTERIA OF LADY MACBETH BY ISADOR H. CORIAT, M.D. AUTHOR OF " ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY," CO-AUTHOR OF "RELIGION AND MEDICINE," ETC. NEW YORK MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1912 Copyright 1912, by Moffat, Yard and Company New Yokk TO MY WIFE CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. REPRESSION AND THE SUBCON- SCIOUS 1 II. SOMNAMBULISM AND HYSTERIA . . 16 III. PSYCHO ANALYSIS AND LITERATURE 23 IV. THE PROBLEM OF LADY MACBETH . 28 V. THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF LADY MACBETH 36 BIBLIOGRAPHY 93 THE HYSTERIA OF LADY MACBETH CHAPTER I REPRESSION AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS This short contribution may be called a study in applied abnormal psychology and its object is to lay bare the fundamen- tal mental mechanisms in one of the most prominent and interesting of artistic lit- erary creations, (it notably differs from the usual conceptions of Lady Macbeth, since it does not interpret her behavior or motives either as criminal or as obsessed by ambitionTjiJf the tragedy be read anew in the light of modern psychopath- ology, the interpretation herein given will be found the only adequate one, namely, 1 2 THE HYSTERIA that Lady Macbeth is an accurate exam- ple of h^steri^ - In speaking of Shakespeare as a dra- matic artist, Taine, one of the most philo- sophical and penetrating of literary crit- ics, says: "Lofty words, eulogies, are all used in vain; he needs no praise, but comprehension merely; and he can only be comprehended by the aid of science. As the complicated revolutions of the heavenly bodies become intelligible only by the use of a superior calculus, as the delicate transformations of vegetation and life need for their explanation the in- tervention of the most difficult chem- ical formulas, so the great works of art can be interpreted only by the most ad- vanced psychological systems." Now it so happens that modern psychopathology is precisely one of those advanced psy- chological systems which is to-day inter- preting literature anew. It is the ana- OF LADY MACBETH 3 lytic work of this individual psychology, that is not only transforming the sub- ject of psychoneuroses in medicine, but is likewise illuminating literature and art. While its methods are highly technical, yet its results have been far reaching in penetrating the hidden recesses of abnor- mal mental states and the motives for the varied activities of the creative imagina- tion. It is only within the last few years that psychoanalysis has forged to the front as an important branch of medical and psy- chological science, and it is to Profes- sor Sigmund Freud of Vienna that we are indebted for the greatest advances in these directions. The psychology of Freud and his school has not only revolu- tionized certain aspects of medical sci- ence, such as the study of hysteria and other psychoneuroses, but has penetrated into different fields of human knowledge 4 THE HYSTERIA and analyzed and interpreted them. The psychology of childhood, the interpreta- tions of artistic creations in literature and painting, the analysis of myths and folk lore, and of wit and humor, have all been transfused with a new meaning through these unique psychological theories. The results have been valuable and stimulat- ing and have unraveled the mental mech- anisms through which poet and painter work and by which mythology and folk lore have evolved their symbolism. It has been shown, for instance, that in cer- tain psychoneuroses, and in the creation of wit, dreams, poetry, painting, two men- tal mechanisms are uniformly at work, — namely, either an imaginary wish fulfill- ment or a tendency in that direction and a repression of painful experiences and memories into the unconscious. Freud's activities and the fundamental principles of his psychology have spread OF LADY MACBETH 5 in several directions and a brief account of his theories is necessary for a compre- hension of the mental disease of Lady Macbeth. In the first place, it has been demonstrated that there is a rigid deter- minism in the mental world and that psychophysical processes are the absolute result of a certain chain of causation, either conscious or unconscious. That is to say, mental processes are not arbitrary, accidental or due to chance, but are closely related to one another. This is as true of dreams or of slips of the tongue in everyday life as in the more complex manifestations of hysteria. A certain mental state or idea does not arise in a haphazard fashion out of the conscious or the unconscious, but is predetermined by certain experiences or groups of ideas. In the same way that physical events pos- sess an unchangeable sequence of cause and effect, so psychical events conform 6 THE HYSTERIA to an identical mechanism. There is no more room for chance in the mental world than in the physical world. It is this theory of determinism, so rigorous and inflexible, which has been responsible for the development of the technical methods in the exploration of the conscious and unconscious mental life, known as psycho- analysis. Mental states are never at rest, but are active and dynamic, and unceasingly grouping and ungrouping themselves, excepting perhaps in the deepest sleep and in anaesthesia. This grouping of mental states and ideas has also its ana- logue in the biological world, for an iden- tical mechanism takes place in all the activities of the individual cell or collec- tion of cells. Every mental process or experience and every external stimulus leaves its traces or marks upon the nerv- ous system. Of the exact nature of this OF LADY MACBETH 7 trace nothing is known. The fact that such traces do occur, however, explains all the phenomena of memory, particu- larly the storing up or conservation of experiences and their later voluntary or involuntary revival or reproduction. We are, however, not completely aware of all these active mental processes. Some of these only appear in dreams, oth- ers can be revived only through various artificial devices, such as hypnosis. For those mental states which exist in an active but latent form in consciousness, but of which we are not aware, the term subcon- scious or unconscious is applied. It is these subconscious mental proc- esses, together with certain other mental mechanisms, which are of particular value in the interpretation of the mental state of the subject of this study. These ad- ditional mechanisms are repression, men- 8 THE HYSTERIA tal or intrapsychical conflicts and mental dissociation. When a p ainful experience occurs, the natund_tenjlencx °f Jhe_ personality is TB strive to banjshjt and thusjput it out of action. The experience although ban- ished is not really deader rendered com- pletely quiescentj but remains active al- though latentj, and may suddenly appear in consciousness ot in the actions of the subject jmdfit-cer±ain--eondJti0ns r such as in absentmindedness, _sleep_ or_dreams. When it again becomes manifest under these circumstances, it reappears either as a literal rehearsal of the original experi- ence or in a disguised or symbolized form. The technical method which enables one to trace the transformed and symbolized experiences back to their original content is known as psychoanalysis. In any event, the subconscious or unconscious ex- perience, does not lose its activity or vivid- OF LADY MACBETH 9 ness, but retains all the intensity of the original experience. This mental mech- anism of voluntary banishment is known as repression. Its effect is to prevent any experience or group of experiences, technically known as a "complex," from entering consciousness. It is this repres- sion which is responsible for many psy- choneurotic disturbances, particularly hysteria. Thus hysteria is essentially an inadequate biological reaction, rather than a mere functional disorder. A "complex" therefore, may be defined as a system of ideas possessing a certain emotional tone or value. In the psychi- cal sphere, complexes have an action re- sembling that of energy in the physical sphere. A complex may remain latent or inactive for a long time, and may only become active when stimulated in a cer- tain manner. This stimulation of the complex occurs when one or more of its 10 THE HYSTERIA ideas or elements is aroused to activity, either by some external event or through some association arising in consciousness itself. If the complex is unconscious or subconscious as the result of disease or of training or education in certain directions, the individual may be absolutely unaware of the fact that his thoughts and actions are caused and predetermined by these unconscious complexes. We all are the victims of our complexes — and our re- ligious or political or moral views of life, which we think are the result of free will and an incontrovertible logic, are in a large part determined by the educational complexes stored up during the earlier years of our lives. If two or more an- tagonistic complexes are present in the mind and act simultaneously, they pro- duce what is known as a mental conflict. An emotional tension thereby takes place and may produce those various types of OF LADY MACBETH 11 mental distress or anxiety which are so familiar in everyday life or in some cases, may even lead to the development of hysteria or an anxiety neurosis. Under certain conditions also, when a complex leads to a mental conflict and is avoided by repression because of its unpleasant emotional tone, this avoidance or repres- sion may produce hysteria and the re- pressed complex may find its outlet in various ways, such as hysterical paralysis or aphonia or some other clinical manifes- tation of the disorder. When the resist- ance or inhibition to the complex is weakened, such as in sleep, the complexes may reappear and manifest themselves in various ways, for example in dreams or somnambulism. Sometimes the complex may show it- self in a literal manner, but in most dis- eases, particularly in hysteria and also in dreams, it becomes distorted and symbol- 12 THE HYSTERIA ized and the genuine, underlying complex can only be determined through a psycho- analysis. Thus a complex appe aring in dreams or in pathologicaljsymptojns, may be symbolized,, condensed-or, displaced, or it may reveal jtsel£jn.a_form.diametrically opposite^ 3Cflajj„the-^enuine- complex^ for instance,. Lady Macbeth's apparent brav- ery which in reality Is~an unconscious cowardice. Fixed ideas or complexes occurring during the waking state may bring on attacks of sleep and when they occur dur- ing sleep, they may produce somnambu- lism. In whatever form the complex be- comes manifest during somnambulism, its revival becomes exceedingly vivid. We speak of this increased intensity of images in somnambulism as hypermnesia. This increased strength of images is only apparent, however, as the subject has no memory for the somnambulistic attack OF LADY MACBETH 18 on resuming the normal state. An amne- sia has taken place, due to a dissociation or splitting off of the complex. The memories involved in the period covered by the amnesia may however be revived through certain appropriate psycholog- ical methods. After the repression of an experience, it may remain active and cannot merge into consciousness without meeting resist- ance, at least in the waking life. This resistance, therefore, is a mental mechan- ism diametrically opposed to the sup- pressed complex and to this resistance has been given the name of "censor." This censor is continually active, par- ticularly when exerting its force against a painful complex. Under certain con- ditions however, the censor either parti- ally or completely loses its force and be- comes relaxed. This relaxation or in- hibition of the censor is particularly liable 14) THE HYSTERIA to take place in dreams or in sleep. Dreams are the result of antecedent ex- periences or complexes and may appear either in a literal or in a distorted or sym- bolized form. Thus dreams furnish a very valuable and convenient means of exploring the repressed experiences of mental life and through their analysis it is possible to uncover the unconscious complexes which the subject is either un- willing to reveal or is actually prevented from doing so through the activity of the censor. The same mechanism takes place in sleep-walking or somnambulism, for here again, as will be later demon- stated, somnambulism is not synonymous with unconsciousness, but arises out of sleep ; it may terminate in sleep again and is essentially the reaction of the mind to a suppressed painful experience or group of experiences. Sometimes the resist- ance off ered by the censor or complex is OF LADY MACBETH 15 so great that it produces a dissociation or splitting of consciousness, as will be clearly demonstrated in the cases to be later cited in detail, in the course of this essay. The same mechanism of relax- ation of the censor has also been found in certain cases of multiple personality, — for instance in Dr. Morton Prince's case, the appearance of the irrepressible "Sally" during the sleep of Miss Beau- champ. Thus in repression, two opposing men- tal mechanisms are at work — viz.: the process which causes the repression of the complex and the antagonistic action of the censor in attempting to prevent this repressed complex from entering con- sciousness. Consequently a mental or intrapsychical conflict arises and this con- flict leads to partial or complete dissocia- tion of consciousness, dependent upon whether or not the mental conflict is mild 16 THE HYSTERIA or intense in its nature. Sometimes again during the waking condition, the censor is only partially successful in preventing the complexes from entering consciousness, and the mind of the subject becomes tor- tured by one or a group of abnormal ideas, termed fixed ideas or obsessions. CHAPTER II SOMNAMBULISM AND HYSTERIA While Freud has penetrated deepest into the mechanism of psychical repres- sions, it is to the new psychology of the French school that we are indebted for the clearest analyses of the various types of the mental dissociation of somnambu- lism or sleep-walking. It has been re- peatedly demonstrated that the resistance offered by the memory of a harrowing emotional experience may sometimes be so great that it produces a dissociation or OF LADY MACBETH 17 splitting of consciousness. It is in the psychological analyses of these mental dissociations that the new psychology has been pre-eminent, particularly concern- ing the part played by the emotions in the production of these abnormal mental states. For instance, it can be shown that somnambulism is one of the most marked forms of this splitting of consciousness, and that it is most liable to occur in the disease hysteria, which is in itself a form of mental dissociation, (pomnambulisi may assume various types, either the or- dinary form of sleep-walkin g or it may develop to such a high degree that the subjects may wander about in strange places for hours or days and~Iolse"~EKe memory of their real personality. Then some chance occurrence takes place and they suddenly resume their normal per- sonality, apparently without any memory 18 THE HYSTERIA for the lost period. Technically this gap in the memory is known as amnesia. The amnesia is not genuine, however, for the memories are not actually lost, but they are merely subconscious or dissoci- ated and may, as I have repeatedly demonstrated, be completely and perma- nently restored through appropriate psy- chological methods. It is with the first or shorter type of somnambulism with which we are partic- ularly concerned. As a rule it is caused by one or more emotional experiences, and is termed monoideic somnambulism. Monoideic somnambulism may there- fore be defined as a psychical state con- sisting of a detachment of a small group of ideas from the greater stream of con- sciousness, this system of ideas becoming for the time being dominant. With the return to normal consciousness this dis- sociated system is forgotten and an am- OF LADY MACBETH 19 nesia results. These subconscious fixed ideas may cause various pathological men- tal states, such as symbolic dreams, hal- lucinatory phenomena, peculiar attacks and crises, the various types of somnam- bulism, automatic writing, crystal visions, etc. In the somnambulistic crises, there is a rehearsal of all the emptipnal^experi- ences which^iginal^cajused the mental dissociation. This rehearsal is a literal one, anjwords, gestures, sounds, scenes, being faithfully reproduced and acted out in a most dramatic manner. Toothing in psychopathology is so startling and sensational as a somnambulistic crisis. The condition usually arises in sleep and may terminate in sleep or awakening. Each crisis exactly resembles the preced- ing one. In any case, the somnambulism itself is not genuine sleep but a form of mental dissociation which is produced during sleep. The most prominent phe- 20 THE HYSTERIA nomenon of this somnambulistic state is the amnesia or loss of memory for the attack, after the subject has awakened from it. A given somnambulistic state in the same subject always develops in an identical manner, and although the re- hearsal of the emotional experience which produced the somnambulism is a literal one, yet often it is markedly exaggerated. Hallucinations of the various ■ senses often take place and the subject speaks to imaginary persons, hears imaginary voices, does imaginary acts, as if the voices, persons, actions, were real and actually present. Even hallucination s of the, sense.- of-smell, as in.Lady_Mac- beth's jleepj^waj^ng„sceae_.(^EIer_e^s_ the s mell of blood still") may arise. When the somnambulism iF°enHe3~and the sub- ject returns to normal consciousness, the former mental attitude and relation to surroundings is assumed, as if nothing OF LADY MACBETH 21 had occurred. The name and age of the subject are then clearly remembered, he resumes his normal characteristics and personality and the memory is to all in- tents and purposes absolutely unimpaired. But if careful inquiry be made, a gap will be found in the memory and this gap is the period occupied by the somnambulis- tic attack. As Janet very clearly ex- presses it: "There are two chief psycho- logical characteristics that come out in somnambulism. During the crisis itself, two opposite characteristics manifest themselves: first, a huge unfolding of all the phenomena connected with a certain delirium ; second, an absence of every sen- sation and every memory that is con- nected with that delirium. After the crisis, during the state that appears as normal, two other characteristics appear, opposite to all appearance; the return to consciousness of sensations and normal 22 THE HYSTERIA memory and the entire forgetfulness of all that is connected with the somnambu- lism. The ideas which trouble the mind present themselves in an exaggerated and often dramatic manner during states of abnormal consciousness. These types of crises have been called somnambulism." Therefore the chief psychological char- acteristic of somnambulism may be thus briefly summarized. 1. In the somnambulistic state, the images are clearly represented and the subject seems to see and hear everything. 2. There is a marked regularity of development. In each somnambulistic state the subject repeats the same words and makes the same gestures as in the original emotional experience which was responsible for the cause of the somnam- bulistic state. 3. In spite of all the natural acts of the subject and the avoidance of obsta- OF LADY MACBETH 23 cles, yet the subject does not seem to per- ceive or at least to notice the objects or persons round about. He is apparently oblivious to surroundings. This phase is very clearly expressed in the conversa- tion between the doctor and the gentle- woman, as they observe the sleep-wsdking of Lady Macbeth. Doctor. You see, her eyes are open. Gent. Aye, but their sense is shut (V. 1). 4. When the attack is over, there is a return to the normal personality, but the attack has left a gap in consciousness. CHAPTER III PSYCHOANALYSIS AND LITERATURE The value of the analytic method lies in the fact that by it, one is able to dis- cover suppressed material and thus establish a definite psychological connec- 24 THE HYSTERIA tion between symptoms and repressed experiences, a real continuity in the psy- chic series. The entire psychical com- plex may thus be reconstructed through the data furnished by psychoanalysis, and all the apparently heterogeneous symptoms thus assume a certain law and order. The first contribution in which the psy- choanalytic method was directed to liter- ature was Freud's analysis of W. Jensen's symbolic novel, "Gradiva." Here he applied his theory of dreams to a definite fantastic literary creation and pointed out that every psychoanalytic method was a search for repressed men- tal processes. It was later shown from the standpoint of comparative mythol- ogy, that the laws of the formation of myths and fairy tales were identical with the laws by which dreams were produced, for instance, in the story of CEdipus and OF LADY MACBETH 25 in the conflict between Uranus and the Titans. The myth is a representation of the infantile mental life of man. The dream is the myth of the individual and like the myth, it is symbolic. More recently Freud has published a psychoanalytic study of the childhood memories of Leonardo da Vinci, with particular reference to the symbolism of Leonardo's famous portrait of Mona Lisa. The attempt is certainly a bold one and with the few meager facts of Leonardo's childhood at hand, Freud has succeeded in clothing his study with a rea- sonable degree of plausibility. Recent Freudian literature has busied itself in those directions. We can only briefly mention such a study as Graf's analysis of Wagner's "Flying Dutchman," in which, similar to the theme in Leonardo, it was shown that some of Wagner's greatest work sprang from his childhood 26 THE HYSTERIA experiences and fancies. The main mo- tive in all these studies is the tracing out of artistic creations to conflicts or repres- sions of various complexes, principally sexual, which have become transformed or sublimated into higher artistic crea- tions, or even to the various symbolic ex- pressions which are found in myths and folk lore. One of the more interesting of recent attempts in this direction and in fact the first application of the psychoanalytic method to Shakespeare is the study of Hamlet by Ernest Jones. Whatever one may think of the multitude of theories as explanatory of Hamlet's mental state and his course of action, it must be said that here is the first clear and adequate scientific attempt to apply the principles of psychoanalysis to the ever-baffling Hamlet-problem. The mental condition OF LADY MACBETH 27 of Hamlet is here analyzed on the hasis of Freud's well-known theories of mental repression which were summarized ear- lier in the course of this essay and concerns the development of the attitude of son to parent which plays so conspicuous a part in the (Edipus Legend, particularly in Sophocles' tragedy. The relation of the mental status of Hamlet to the CEdipus problem had been pointed out some years previously by Freud in his study of dreams (Traumdeutung) and it is here further elaborated by Jones. Modern criticism of Hamlet has shown that the great difficulty in the way of the consum- mation of his scheme and purpose of re- venge lay in an internal resistance and mental conflicts and not in any external obstacles or circumstances. The expla- nation given through psychoanalysis dem- onstrates the real nature of the resistance, 28 THE HYSTERIA namely, that the inhibition lay in the fact that] the repressed love for his mother was more powerful than his hostilities] CHAPTER IV THE PROBLEM OF LADY MACBETH When we approach the problem of the somnambulism of Lady Macbeth, it must be remembered that the sleep-walk- ing scene does not stand isolated and alone in the tragedy, but that it is the definite and logical evolution of Lady Macbeth's previous emotional experi- ences and complexes. In other words, she is not a criminal type or an ambitious woman, but the victim of a pathological mental dissociation arising upon an un- stable, day-dreaming basis, and is due to the emotional shocks of her past experi- ences, i Lady Macbeth is a typical case of hysteria ; her ambition is merely a subli- OF LADY MACBETH 29 mation of a repressed sexual impulse, the desire for a child based upon the memory of a child long since dead. In fact, an analysis of the sleep-walk- ing scene demonstrates that it is neither genuine sleep nor the prickings of a guilty conscience, but a clear case of path- ological somnambulism, a genuine disinte- gration of the personality. As such, it offers as wonderful and as complex a problem as Hamlet — probably more so, for Lady Macbeth's disease is clearly de- fined and admits of easier clinical demon- stration. An analysis of the repressed emotional complexes in Lady Macbeth must of necessity illuminate the motives of the entire tragedy, such as the mental disease of Macbeth, his hallucinations and the symbolism represented by the three weird sisters. It is on the basis of this discussion that the new interpretation of Lady Macbeth 30 THB HYSTERIA rests. Therefore the investigation of the psychopathology of Lady Macbeth must be directed along several definite lines, namely: 1. A determination of her mental processes due to unconscious psychic fac- tors. 2. A study of her various complexes. 3. A study of her emotional conflicts. 4. The various repressions and the phenomena occasioned by them. 5. The mechanism of the somnambu- listic state. Previous conceptions of the character of Lady Macbeth, have been marked by a looseness of analysis and complete mis- understanding of her mental condition. It seems strange that a more scientific interpretation should have been over- looked. Criminal, coward, obsessed by ambition, walking in her sleep because of remorse and above all interpreting the OF LADY MACBETH 31 sleep-walking scene as genuine sleep with a superadded guilty conscience, are some of the errors in this direction. A few writers (Rosen, Laehr, Regis, Grasset, Janet) have recognized the hysterical na- ture of her mental disease, but without any effort at systematic analysis, the con- dition being referred to merely as a case of pathological somnambulism. Coleridge, however, with an unsur- passed insight into all the Shakespearean characters about which he has written, says concerning Lady Macbeth : "Like all in Shakespeare, she is a class individual- ized: of high rank, left much alone, and feeding herself with daydreams of ambition. She mistakes the courage of fantasy for the power of bearing the consequence of the reality of guilt. Hers is the mock fortitude of a mind de- luded by ambition; she shames her hus- band with a superhuman audacity of 32 THE HYSTERIA fancy which she cannot support, but sinks in the season of remorse and dies in suicidal agony." Although written many years ago, the Macbeth literature shows nothing equal to this summary, when the description is read anew in the light of recent psychopathological research. One of the most scientific commentaries on the mental condition in the sleep-walk- ing scene, is by Pfeil, who states as fol- lows: "As regards the symptoms of som- nambulism, the affection is a convulsive condition in which the muscular power is greatly increased. The sufferer sees as it were with the outstretched finger tips — for the most part this is the rule, — while the open, sightless eyes stare continually into vacancy. The movements are er- ratic and much more energetic than in the waking state: never slow, gliding or lan- guid, as though drunk with sleep. It would be most correct, and for the audi- OF LADY MACBETH 33 ence, most realistic, should Lady Mac- beth rush hastily across the stage with an impetuous run — neither gliding nor tot- tering, as was done by one of our cele- brated actresses. In her right hand she carries a candle rather than a candelabra. The candle should be carried straight, not crooked; since, as is well known, a som- nambulist walks in security along the edge of the roof and would assuredly carry a light straight. The left arm should be stretched out with fingers out- spread as though feeling the way." The four great tragedies of Shakes- peare have sexual problems as their cen- tral motive. The father problem ap- pears in Lear and Hamlet, the evolution of a jealousy complex in Othello and the theme of childlessness in Macbeth. The character of Lady Macbeth has been compared to one of the most striking figures in Greek tragedy — namely, Cly- 3* THE HYSTERIA temnestra, in the Agamemnon of iEschy- lus. This comparison, it appears to us, is based upon rather superficial re- semblances. Clytemnestra is essentially and fundamentally criminal, deceitful, voluptuous, coldly calculating in her motives and shows none of the symptoms which make Lady Macbeth the irrespon- sible victim of a definite psychoneu- rosis. Lady Macbeth reacts only as her unconscious complexes make her react, Clytemnestra is the willing slave of her conscious will; one is a flawless and consistent type of hysterical dissociation, the other, the incarnation of criminal tendencies. Clytemnestra indeed at- tempted to justify her behavior on the basis of her husband's infidelity, but this was merely an excuse for her voluptuous- ness. In fact, it seems doubtful if the Greek theater could have conceived of an hys- OF LADY MACBETH 35 terical dissociation of the type of Lady Macbeth. It appears that the ancient Greeks were markedly free from hys- teria, although the disease was well known to the Greek physicians, who had a vague conception of it as a form of erotic symbolism. Many of the conditions of furor depicted on the Greek stage were probably epilepsy and not hysteria, as even the excellent descriptions of Hip- pocrates, did not clearly distinguish be- tween the two diseases. Hysteria is the result of unconscious conflicts of com- plexes, but the Greek stage, by reason of its unique function as a kind of national catharsis provided an outlet for these re- pressed conflicts and therefore served as a protector of the national mental health. It was for this reason that Aristotle de- fined the function of tragedy as an ass- ■ thetic or emotional catharsis. Tragedy, therefore, among the ancient Greeks, was 36 THE HYSTERIA of such a peculiar nature that it provided a channel into which their surplus or re- pressed emotions might easily flow. The Greek drama arose out of folk festivals dedicated to Dionysus and possessed a more or less sexual or erotic character. ' It is well known that sexual repressions are the greatest of all repressions and are _ preeminent in producing hysteria. CHAPTER V THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF LADY MACBETH The first building up and hint of the murder complex is found in Macbeth's mind, before, with a kind of psychic con- tagion, he transmits it to his wife by means of the letter which engenders her famous first soliloquy. After King Duncan has invested him with the title of Thane of Cawdor, in an "aside," the com- OF LADY MACBETH 37 plex breaks through for the first time. "Glamis and Thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind" (I. 3). The words of the weird sister have thus already begun their unconscious incuba- tion and maturation, "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter" (I. 3), and he has already begun to "Yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair And make my seated heart knock at my ribs" (I. 3). The "suggestion" in Macbeth has be-^ come an obsession and it is this obsession which furnishes the keynote to the evolu- tion of the mental disease of Lady Mac- beth, finally dominating and overgrowing^ her entire personality. The weird sisters are myths, but like all myths they must be interpreted not lit- erally, but as symbols, — as instigators 88 THE HYSTERIA of a fixed idea of ambition which they plant in Macbeth's mind, and which acts like an hypnotic suggestion. Macbeth was thus affected by the witches' prophe- cies, partly because the promise in these prophecies acted as a compensation or substitution for his childlessness, and partly because they harmonized with the already formed unconscious wish to be King. Banquo, however, issued from the interview unscathed, there was no com- pensation needed in him, for he was neither childless nor wished to be King. This, I take it, is the true interpretation, while the usual one, which states that Macbeth is criminal by nature while Banquo is not, appears to be utterly erroneous. Macbeth was completely dazed, almost hypnotized, by the words of the witches, as is shown by the fact that in speaking to them, Banquo refers to Macbeth as OF LADY MACBETH 39 "My noble partner You greet with present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal" (I. 3). Since he was in this semihypnotic condi- tion, the prophecies of the witches acted like a powerful suggestion, which later became elaborated and acted upon be- cause they completely harmonized with his unconscious wishes. Lady Macbeth first appears in the fifth scene of the first act, reading her hus- band's letter, which briefly described his meeting with the three weird sisters. Therefore, any ideas which might enter into the mind of Lady Macbeth, were due to hints contained in the letter betraying her husband's wishes, and were elaborated in a soliloquy which revealed the very rap- ture of ambition. This first soliloquy is remarkable, it is her first daydream of ambition, so strong and dominating, that 40 THE HYSTERIA she believes she possesses what she really does not possess — namely, bravery. It is this imaginary wish fulfillment to be queen which later causes the hysterical dissociation. As can be demonstrated later in the sleep-walking episode, this daydream of bravery was merely assumed, a mask for the realization of the sudden uprush of her ambition. The genuine underlying cowardice was suppressed. But the suppressed complex of ambi- tion has become dominating and will now stop at nothing to accomplish its ends. At first consciously prodded on, it soon becomes automatic, beyond her control, she becomes dominated by the fixed idea which causes her disease and which la- ter is responsible for the somnambu- lism. When the messenger arrives with the news that "the King comes here to- night," the suppressed complex of the de- sire to be queen and the means to be OF LADY MACBETH 41 employed to accomplish the desire, breaks through for the first time. Like slips of the tongue in everyday life^ which modern psychopathology have show n are-" not accidental, but are predetermined by antecedent complexes, so the immediate answer is not the usual one of welcome, but one tinged and distorted by her dreams of ambition and the first vague glimmering of homicide. Here the dis- turbing thought is caused or conditioned by the repressed complex and she replies *Thouj$ mad t o say it * 1 * Then she suddenly feels that she has disclosed herself and her innermost thoughts and in order to disarm suspicion, the remainder of the reply becomes com- monplace. The modern theory of the bursting of suppressed complexes into speech, indi- cates a sudden removal of the censorship 42 THE HYSTERIA and an uprushing of the subconscious ideas. This alternate play of free speech and of repression forms one of the most characteristic features of Lady Macbeth's mental disorder. In the pres- ence of the messenger, after the reveal- ing of the complex, a compromise with the unconscious takes place, she again becomes the calm Lady Macbeth and attempts to assume an indifferent atti- tude by pretending that it is lack of prep- aration for the sudden visit of the King which led -to this emotional outburst. "Is not thy master with him? who, were't so, Would have inform'd for preparation" (I. 5). When the messenger leaves, the sup- pressed complex again breaks forth into a daydream of ambition, of a burning desire and wish to be queen. She imag- ines, but immediately represses it, at least so far as can be determined by her words, OF LADY MACBETH 43 that the opportune moment has arrived and the King will walk into the trap she has prepared for him. In order to brace herself for the ordeal and for the rapidly- forming plans of the "taking off" of Duncan, she again deceives herself into thinking that she possesses bravery for a deed which is clearly present in the background of her mind. This, I take it, is the most logical interpretation of the remainder orlthat remarkable soliloquy which follows \ "The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty ! make thick my blood, Stop up the access and the passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep pace between The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering min- isters, Wherein your sightless substances 44 THE HYSTERIA You wait on nature's mischief ! Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry 'Hold, hold !' " (I. 5.) Then, in the first appearance of Mac- beth before his wife, the conversation clearly reveals the working of Lady Macbeth's mind. It is only in her wak- ing condition that she is master of the situation, influences her husband, and maintains herself in a logical relation to her surroundings. This is not spontane- ous, however, but is the effect of a suppression brought about through a co- lossal effort of the will. In the somnam- bulistic personality, she loses this mastery, becomes a coward and the subject of a depression which finally terminates in sui- cide. It can be shown that for years, even be- fore the witches' prophecies, Macbeth had the latent, unconscious wish to be King. OF LADY MACBETH 45 This welcome but forbidden wish was suppressed and the witches' prophecies merely transposed it from the uncon- scious to the conscious, in other words, it became projected outwards. There the transposed wish became converted in Macbeth to elemental fear. Why, then, was such a coward as Macbeth attracted to a woman like Lady Macbeth? Not- because she was masculine, for any mas- culine traits which she may have man- ifested were merely superficial and as- sumed and not fundamental. In fact, she was distinctly feminine; it was neces- sary that she be so, in order to have at- tracted a man like Macbeth. Macbeth, with his inclination to murderous deeds and his unconscious but unrealized wishes, was attracted to Lady Macbeth because she was capable of fanning these tenden- cies, tendencies clamoring for expression and struggling for outward projection 46 THE HYSTERIA until finally they became fixed in an un- controllable impulse. In fact, the trans- fer of the emotions is the most common psychic occurrence of the drama. Lady Macbeth was impelled to the murder through her suppressed impulses. The desire to be queen hid these impulses in the same manner that the political and patriotic ambitions of Charlotte Cor- day and Joan of Arc were merely masks for their suppressed, unconscious activ- ities. ^This transfer takes place through the unconscious and hidden meanings rather than through conscious deeds or words. When this unconscious motive breaks through, we have tragedy, or, as Wittels expresses it, "the cause of all tragedy is the breaking into consciousness of the illogical and unethical subconscious self." In the Shakespearean drama this transfer is seen in the relations of Othello to Des- OF LADY MACBETH 47 demona, of Lear to Cordelia and of Hamlet to his mother. This mechanism furnishes the key to Macbeth. Let us see how Shakespeare accomplished this, not that Shakespeare was a scientist and intended a scientific demonstration, but rather to show how his creative faculty unconsciously and in- tuitively depicted a struggle and a mental mechanism which may have escaped his conscious understanding. This transfer is shown in the following dialogue: Lady M. Geat Glamis! worthy Cawdor! Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter ! Thy letters have transported me beyond This ignorant present, and I feel now The future in the instant. Macb. My dearest love, Duncan conies here to-night. Lady M. And when goes hence? Macb. To-morrow, as he purposes. Lady M. O, never Shall sun that morrow see ! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, 48 THE HYSTERIA Look like the time ; bear welcome in your eve, Your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under *t. He that's coming Must be provided for : and you shall put This night's great business into my dispatch; Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. Macb. We will speak further. Lady M. Only look up clear; To alter favor ever is to fear: Leave all the rest to me. Macb. Will it not be received, When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers, That they have done't? These final words of Macbeth with which he sums up the conversation represent a compromise with his wishes and an apol- ogy for his fear. Lady Macbeth is next brought face to face with the King and in response to his greetings, there follows a reply, which is the very quintessence of hypocrisy, and which may be interpreted as a substitu- OF LADY MACBETH 49 tion or a compensation for the gradually dominating but repressed complex. "All our service In every point twice done, and then done double, Were poor and single business to contend Against those honors deep and broad -wherewith Your majesty loads our house: for those of old, And the late dignities heap'd up to them, We rest your hermits (I. 6). Then, when the time for the great deed approaches, and Macbeth wavers, she goads him on and in the words "I have given suck, and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this" (I. 7). Here is an example of a substitution, or what is termed in modern psychopathol- ogy as a sublimation or transformation of a sexual complex into ambition, a mechanism which is frequently found 50 THE HYSTERIA in hysteria. The theme of childlessness • is here revealed for the first time. In fact, so complete does the transformation sometimes become, that the hysterics fail to recognize the sexual thoughts underly- ing their symptoms and they can be re- vealed only through the technical devices of psychoanalysis. In both Lady Mac- beth and Macbeth, the sexual energy is transformed — in the former it leads to an ambition complex, in the latter to crimi- nality. In this remarkable dialogue be- tween Lady Macbeth and her husband, we see how constant reiteration gradually fixes the complex into consciousness 1 , an identical mechanism found in one of the scenes between Iago and his dupe Roder- igo in the constant reiteration of "Put money in thy purse." As the final moment approaches for the' murder, the so-called courage which Lady Macbeth had deluded herself OF LADY MACBETH 51 that she possessed, has not remained in the "sticking place," but she weakens per- ceptibly and is compelled to have recourse to alcohol in order to make her brave. She is not brave naturally, but is a coward at heart, as is particularly shown in the lines : "That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold; What hath quench'd them hath given me fire." This cowardice is again later seen in the words uttered after the first cry of Mac- beth heard from the King's chamber — when she becomes afraid that perhaps the possets have not been sufficiently drugged and the grooms or perhaps the King him- self has awakened. The words uttered are an artful excuse, a substitution for her cowardice, and not, as one critic has stated, because some fancied resemblance to her father had arisen to stay her up- lifted arm and thus worked on her con- 52 THE HYSTERIA science. Here the motive is far deeper — a symptomatic, unconscious substitution for her cowardice and not due to any prickings of conscience in the relation of • child to parent. Thus the words "I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss 'em. Had be not resembled My father as he slept, I had done't" (II. 2). acquire a new significance in the light of modern psychopathology. But as Macbeth reenters, in that sub- lime, laconic whispering between him and Lady Macbeth, the latter's agitation and fear momentarily break forth even with the use of alcohol, but is just as quickly subdued and repressed. It is this re-' pression of Lady Macbeth's cowardice as well as her repression of the knowledge of the murderers of Duncan, Banquo and the wife and children of Macduff, which is responsible for the gradual develop- OF LADY MACBETH 53 ment of the mental dissociation which culminates in the somnambulism. But after the deed is done, there arises the first premonition of the impending mental dissociation and suicide. So ter- rible has become her fear and horror, the repression has become so intense, that she shrinks from the guilty secret, and here enters the first element of the mechanism which leads to the hysterical dissociation. She chooses repression and not free ex- pression, thus erroneously feeling that the former will neutralize the emotional shock. Thus her warning to Macbeth "These deeds must not be thought After these ways; so, it will make us mad," shows an attitude which is characteristic of an impending mental disintegration. Later in the scene, her words: "The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures," 54 THE HYSTERIA indicate the beginning of a dissociation of the personality, in an attempt to cut off or repress the thoughts of the tragedy from the rest of her experience. That Shakespeare was fully aware that repression of the emotions was not only painful but dangerous, is shown in the words of Malcolm to Macduff, after the latter has been informed of the mur- der of his wife and children. "What, man ! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows; Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break." After the murder, Macbeth becomes for the time being, clearly hallucinated, the suppressed complexes and the fear having become converted into sensory phenomena. Thus the disturbing mecha- nism at the basis of these hallucinations was in Macbeth's subconscious mental life, namely, the autogenetic influence of his own thoughts. The words "Sleep no OF LADY MACBETH 55 more," with their monotonous reiteration, were not due to chance, but were the re- sult of a disturbing and directing sub- conscious mechanism, arising from ante- cedent complexes. The same mechanism was at work earlier in the hallucination of the dagger and later in the appearance of the ghost of Banquo. It is remark- able, too, how fragmentary the hallucina- tions were, mere phrases here and there, a condition found in all mental diseases where auditory hallucinations are pres- ent. . ,^The knocking at the gate furnishes a distinct emotional contrast to the terror of this scene and is a bursting of reality upon the unreality of things which Lady Macbeth feels creeping upon her. The silence and the whispering, the hallucina- tory phenomena which Macbeth relates to his wife, the tenseness of Lady Mac- beth, these all are suddenly broken into 56 THE HYSTERIA by the stern realism of the knocking. If is easy to conceive, under these circum- stances, how this knocking could act as a psychic traumatism upon the tense emo- tions of Lady Macbeth, how it trans- formed her assumed bravery into terror- izing fear and how these elements alone, if necessary, could act as efficient causes for the development of the hysterical dis- turbance. The repression of the secret of the murder, the imaginary wish to be the mother to a line of Kings, here coin- cides in consciousness with terror and ex- citement. The repressed emotions have thus been injured and out of this injured repression, the hysteria arose. Thus two complexes were already at work in the consciousness of Lady Mac- beth and it is these complexes or rather the repression of these complexes which led to the mental dissociation. The ambition complex is based upon day- OF LADY MACBETH 57 dreams of ambition, not so much for her- self as for her husband. It is a substi- tute for her childlessness or rather for the children which she has lost and it may be termed a sublimated sexual complex. Freud has a very significant passage con- cerning this point. He states, "Shake- speare early lost a son by the name of Hamnet. As in Hamlet there was treated the relation of the son to the father, so in Macbeth there is treated the theme of childlessness. Thus we can search out the meaning of the deep emo- tions in the mind of the creative poets." [ Two prominent Shakespearean critics (Ulrici and Brandes) also point out the childlessness of Lady Macbeth and its effect upon the evolution of her abnormal mental state. This is seen in several significant passages — one of Lady Mac- beth's soliloquies and Macduff's speech beginning 58 THE HYSTERIA "He has no children." The second great repression is the mur- der complex, the outgrowth of the first and it is this which is equally potent in leading to the mental disintegration. However, Lady Macheth was ignorant of the fact that Macbeth had murdered the groom s atj the same time he murdered Duncan, because when she returned from her intention of smearing "the sleepy grooms with blood," she still believed them to be merely in a drunken sleep, so deep "That death and nature do contend about them, Whether they live or die" (II. 2). Therefore, when Macbeth later an- nounced before the sons of Duncan that he had killed the grooms for their mur- der of the King, the emotional shock of this sudden news was so painful, that Lady Macbeth actually fainted. The OF LADY MACBETH 59 fainting at this juncture has given rise to considerable controversy, some critics consider the fainting to be genuine, while others interpret it as feigned. I believe, however, that the swoon was real, it marked the first objective symptom of the hysterical dissociation. It is a genu- ine hysterical attack, due to overpower- ing emotions and terror. It is neither pretense nor a mere revulsion of feeling. Macbeth was unconcerned at the fainting because he was far more dominated at the time by a feeling that he must not betray himself by either word or action. This unconcern of Macbeth about his wife's condition, is, therefore, no proof that he believed the fainting attack to be feigned. rThe fact that she fainted at Macbeth's description of the murder with its bloody accompaniments, while she did not faint when she saw the dead King himself (even if he did "resemble" her father) 60 THE HYSTERIA and then wiped the bloody daggers upon the faces of the apparently sleeping grooms, is explained by two facts. The effect of the alcohol, which formerly sus- tained her, had entirely worn off and sec- ondly, she was completely overwhelmed at the sudden revelation that her husband had murdered the grooms in addition to the King. / In the third act, the words of the mut- tering soliloquy " 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy," marks the preparation for the sleep- * walking scene and for her later suicide. The preparations for Banquo's murder have been completed and both husband and wife are in a state of terror and men- tal anguish. Even in sleep the repressed complexes continue to break through in dreams, perhaps literal, perhaps sym- bolic. OF LADY MACBETH 61 "Ere we will eat our meal in f ear, and sleep In the affliction of these terrible dreams That shake us nightly: better be with the dead, Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, Than on the torture of the mind to lie In restless ecstasy" (III. 2). These words show that Lady Macbeth likewise suffered from terrible dreams, and that both related these dreams to each other. Now it is well known that during the waking state, complexes may be kept repressed by a constant censorship of con- sciousness. In sleep, this censorship be- comes relaxed and the repressed expe- riences appear either as literal or sym- bolic dreams. Thus dreams are not chance phantasmagoria of thought dis- turbing sleep, but are really the logical result of stored-up but repressed expe- riences. Dreams are likewise markedly individualized and conform to the usual mental make-up of the subject. While this mechanism may take place in every- 62 THE HYSTERIA day life, yet it is particularly liable to occur in hysteria. In Lady Macbeth, an identical mechanism was at work — the reappearance of repressed complexes in her dreams, thereby disturbing sleep — and later leading to somnambulistic at- tacks. Macbeth evidently has some solicitude for his wife's condition, for he does not tell her of the details of the plot against Banquo. This is seen in the dialogue: Macbeth. O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. Lady M. But in them nature's copy's not eterne. Macbeth. There's comfort yet; they are assail- able; Then be thou jocund: ere the bat hath flown His cloister 'd flight ; ere to black Hecate's summons The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. Lady M. What's to be done? OF LADY MACBETH 63 Macbeth. Be innocent of the knowledge, dear- est chuck, Till thou applaud the deed (III. 2). In the third act at the banquet scene, Macbeth has become more definitely hal- lucinated. Earlier in the play he had some suspicion that perhaps the vision of the dagger was unreal, "A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain." In this case, the vision of the dagger was a symbolized subconscious idea, which on account of its intensity had become transformed into a genuine visual halluci- nation. In the banquet scene, however, insight into the imaginary character of the false perception has definitely disappeared and the ghost of Banquo, unlike the ghost of Hamlet's father, is seen by no one except Macbeth, thus definitely stamping the phenomenon as a genuine hallucination. 64 THE HYSTERIA Taine has vividly described this scene as follows — referring it to its proper patho- logical category — "With muscles twitch- ing, dilated eyes, his mouth half open with deadly terror, he sees it shake its bloody head, and cries with that hoarse voice, which is only to be heard in mani- acs' cells. His body trembling like that of an epileptic, his teeth clenched, foam- ing at the mouth, he sinks to the ground, his limbs writhe, shaken with convulsive quiverings, whilst a dull sob swells his panting breast and dies in his swollen throat." Macbeth is strongly predis- posed to epilepsy and like Othello, under emotional strain, he has a genuine epilep- tic convulsion. This explains one phase of Macbeth's criminality— he is a crim- inal partly because he is an epileptic, and partly because the wish to be King is act- ing like an hypnotic suggestion. Now what was Lady Macbeth's atti- OF LADY MACBETH 65 tude towards this terrible episode and what change did it develop in her — already the victim of a rapidly develop- ing hysteria. She is ignorant of the mur- der of Banquo, yet perhaps she half suspects that her husband has committed another crime. She cannot betray him and so again the repression appears and therefore at the banquet she excuses his sudden attack of mental alienation, in the words, "Sit, worthy friends : my Lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought He will again be well" (III. 4). That the entire banquet experience has been repressed in the unconscious, is shown by its reappearance during the later somnambulism, where the genuine and not the false mental state becomes mani- fest— "Fie, my Lord, fie! A soldier and afeard?" 66 THE HYSTERIA In the sleep-walking scene, Shake- speare reached the summit of his art in creating an abnormal mental state. While some of the episodes in Hamlet may have caused more discussion and a greater literature, yet much of Hamlet is problematical, while in Lady Macbeth, there can be but one interpretation of this scene, namely, a case of hysterical som- nambulism, and conforming to all the known laws of the psychological phe- nomena of somnambulistic mental states. The entire scene furnishes a splendid illustration of Shakespeare's remarkable insight into mental mechanisms, particu- larly into abnormal states of conscious- ness. This somnambulistic scene is prede- termined by the existing, suppressed complexes. It is a subconscious autom- atism. Lady Macbeth during this scene is not in a state of unconsciousness OF LADY MACBETH 67 or even sleep, for in fact her conscious- ness is very active, but she is rather in a condition of special consciousness. In such a mental condition very complicated but natural acts may be performed. These somnambulistic phenomena, on account of the close linking of the asso- ciation of ideas are machine-like and automatic in their repetition. As the mental state in which they occur excludes any voluntary action of the will, when once started they inevitably follow the same order. Now this is precisely what occurred to Lady Macbeth. As an analysis of the mental mechanism of her particular somnambulistic state will dis- tinctly show, the entire episode closely corresponds to the form of the condition termed monoideic somnambulism. I must fully agree with Coleridge that Lady Macbeth is essentially of the day- dreaming type. It is interesting to note 68 THE HYSTERIA that in all carefully analyzed cases of hysteria, this daydreaming will be found to be a prominent characteristic. The daydreams were partly those of ambition and partly sexual — both were imaginary wish fulfillments to be queen and to have a son as a compensation for her childless- ness and thus have some one inherit the throne, since the witches hailed Macbeth as father to a line of Kings. These day- dreams of Lady Macbeth furnish the key to the later night dreams and the som- nambulism. Daydreams may express themselves in various hysterical symp- toms and attacks, such as somnambulism, sudden losses of consciousness and am- nesia, all of which are found in Lady Macbeth. This is particularly liable to occur when the daydreams and complexes are intentionally forgotten and merge into the unconscious by repression, a men- tal mechanism which is a prominent char- OF LADY MACBETH 69 acteristic of Lady Macbeth. It is this mental mechanism of repression which finally developed into the somnambulism. The sleep-walking scene is not men- tioned in Holinshed and it must therefore be looked upon as an original effort of Shakespeare's creative imagination. Lady Macbeth had none of the usual phenomena of sleep, but she did show with a startling degree of accuracy all the symptoms of hysterical somnambulism. Somnambulism is not sleep, but a special mental state arising out of sleep through a definite mechanism. The sleep-walk- ing scene is a perfectly logical outcome of the previous mental state. From the very mechanism of this mental state, such a development was inevitable. She is* not the victim of a blind fate or destiny or punished by a moral law, but affected by a mental disease. It is evident from the first words 70 THE HYSTERIA uttered by the Doctor in the sleep-walk- ing scene, that Lady Macbeth had had several previous somnambulistic attacks. That we are dealing with a genuine som- nambulism is shown by the description of the eyes being open and not shut. Now several complexes or groups of sup- pressed ideas of an emotional nature enter into this scene and are responsible for it. The acting out of these com- plexes themselves are based upon reminiscences of her past repressed ex- periences. The first complex relates to the murder of Duncan as demonstrated in the con- tinual washing of the hands, an act not seen earlier and here clearly brought out in the sleep-walking scene. This auto- matic act is a reminiscence of her earlier remark after the murder of Duncan, "A little water clears us of this deed." The second complex refers to the mur- OF LADY MACBETH 71 der of Banquo, clearly shown in the words, "I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he cannot come out of his grave," thus demonstrating that she is no longer ignorant of this particular crime of her husband. The third complex entering into the sleep-walking scene distinctly refers to the murder of Macduff's wife and children — "The Thane of Fife had a wife, where is she now?" Various other fragmentary reminiscences enter into this scene, such as Macbeth's terror at the banquet in the words, "You mar all with this starting," the striking of the clock before the mur- der of King Duncan, and the reading of the first letter from Macbeth announcing the witches' prophecy. Thus a vivid and condensed panorama of all her crimes passes before her. Like all reported cases of hysterical somnambulism, the episode is made up, not of one, but of all 72 THE HYSTERIA the abnormal fixed ideas and repressed complexes of the subject. The smell and sight of blood which she experiences, is one of those cases in which hallucina- tions developed out of subconscious fixed ideas which had acquired a certain in- tensity, as in Macbeth's hallucination of the dagger. Since blood was the domi- nating note of the tragedy, it was evi- dence of Shakespeare's remarkable in- sight that the dominating hallucination of this scene should refer to blood. The analysis of this particular scene also dis- closes other important mental media-,, nisms. There is a form of nervous disease known as a compulsion neurosis in which the subject has an almost continuous im- pulsion to either wash the hands or to re- peat other actions almost indefinitely. As a rule, this compulsion appears mean- ingless and even foolish to the outside OF LADY MACBETH 73 observer and it is only by an analysis of the condition, that we can understand its nature and true significance. The com- pulsion may arise from the idea that the hands are soiled or contaminated or there may be a genuine phobia of infection or contamination. As an example, I had the opportunity to observe the case of a young girl who would wash her hands a number of times during the day. She could give no explanation for this impul- sion. A psychoanalysis, however, dis- closed the fact that the washing of the hands was due to ideas of religious abso- lution from certain imaginary sins and arose as an act of defense against imag- inary contamination. Now a similar group of symptoms is found in Lady Macbeth. In the sleep-walking scene the following dialogue occurs — Doctor. What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands. 74 THE HYSTERIA Gentlewoman. It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands : I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour. Then later in the scene, Lady Macbeth speaks as follows, disclosing the complex which leads to this apparently meaning- less action. "What, will these hands ne'er be clean? . . . Here's the smell of the blood still: All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." Here the symptom develops through Lady Macbeth transferring an unpleas- ant group of memories or complexes, which have a strong personal and emo- tional significance, to an indifferent act or symptom. The act of washing the hands is a compromise for self-reproach and repressed experiences. The mecha- nism here is the same as in the compul- sion neuroses, a proof of Shakespeare's remarkable insight into the workings of the human mind. ; When the doctor later OF LADY MACBETH 75 states, "This disease is beyond my prac- tise," he expressed the attitude of the medical profession towards these psycho- neurotic symptoms until the advent of modern psychopathology. In the words, "Out damned spot — Out I say," the mechanism is that of an un- conscious and automatic outburst. It is very doubtful if Lady Macbeth would have used these words if she were in her normal, waking condition. Thus the dif- ference between the personality of Lady Macbeth in her somnambulistic and in the normal mental state, is a proof of the wide gap existing between these two types of consciousness. Lady Macbeth may therefore be- looked upon as possessing two personali- ties, which appear and disappear accord- ing to the oscillations of her mental level. In her normal, waking state, repression and an assumed bravery are marked. In 76 THE HYSTERIA the sleeping or somnambulistic state, the repression gives way to free expression and her innate cowardice becomes domi- nant. In her waking condition, she shows no fear of blood, but shrinks from it when in a state of somnambulism. Her counsel to her husband while awake is that of an emotionless cruelty, while in somnambulism she shows pity and re- morse. If one could believe in the womanliness of Lady Macbeth, then her sleeping personality must be interpreted as the true one, because removed from the inhibition and the censorship of vol- untary repression. Thus Shakespeare, with most remark- able insight, has made the sleep-walking scene exactly conform to all the charac- teristics of a pathological somnambulism — that is — the subject sees and hears everything, there is a regularity of de- velopment, as the subject repeats the OF LADY MACBETH 77 same words and gestures as in the orig- inal experience and finally, on a return to the normal personality after the attack is over, there is no memory for the attack, in other words, amnesia has taken place. Lady Macbeth's actions during the sleep- walking scene are very complicated, show a clear memory of her past repressed ex- periences, in fact, they are an exact re- production and rehearsal of these expe- riences. Finally, she shows an amount of reasoning and association which would be impossible during the annihilation of consciousness during sleep and which only could have taken place when conscious- ness was very active. Thus somnambulism is not sleep, but an abnormal mental state, distinct from the ordinary mental state of the subject. Somnambulism may be defined as a men- tal state in which the subject possesses particular memories and does particular 78 THE HYSTERIA acts, but of which there is no memory on return to the normal state of conscious- ness. The amnesia of somnambulism is of the same nature as all hysterical am- nesias, — the subject is incapable of at- taching to his normal personality the memories of the somnambulistic attack. Modern psychopathology has reported a number of cases whose symptoms strongly resemble the sleep-walking of Lady Macbeth. Several cases of this type have come under personal observation. One was a young girl who developed hysteria after the emotional shock of her mother's sud- den death of which she was an unwilling spectator. Another case of hysteria de- veloped after the fright of a midnight conflagration on a cold winter's night. In both these cases, somnambulistic epi- sodes took place in the course of the dis- OF LADY MACBETH 79 ease and each patient in the somnam- bulism acted to the smallest detail the emotional episode which originally caused the hysterical dissociation. On awaken- ing, neither patient had any memory for the actions of the somnambulism — in fact there was a complete amnesia. Janet has reported several such cases. In one of them, a young woman who had been attacked by burglars reproduced the entire attack in somnambulism, but without any memory for the attack on awakening. In another case, hysteria developed in a young woman who was attacked by lions while near the cage of the animals. She later developed a curious somnam- bulistic delirium, in which she imitated the actions of the lions in everv respect, even attempting to devour photographs of children. There was complete am- nesia for each somnambulistic crisis, 80 THE HYSTERIA which could not be recollected except in hypnosis. I had the opportunity of studying a similar case of hysteria, of which a por- tion of the clinical history may be quoted from a previous publication. "Miss F. for a number of years had suffered at various intervals from pecu- liar attacks consisting of headache, palpi- tation of the heart, and twitching of both arms, particularly the left arm. Each attack was of several months' duration. In the intervals between the attacks she was perfectly well. Sometimes the twitching was so severe that the patient was compelled to go to bed for a week at a time, and on one of these occasions, she was in a stuporous condition for two days. The attacks are said to have followed an emotional experience when the patient was eight years of age, a fright at seeing her cousin disguised in white to resemble OF LADY MACBETH 81 a ghost. While the patient had heard of this experience in general, she has never been able to recall it in detail. Miss F. was very easily hypnotized, with amnesia (loss of memory) on awakening from the hypnotic state. In this artificial condition, she was able to recall vividly all the details of the emo- tional experience, but on being awakened, she again became amnesic for this experi- ence. While hypnotized and asked to re- late the ghost experience, she gives the account as follows in laconic sentences and in a very dramatic manner. "Seem to see it all now. He makes a noise. He comes near me. It is dark. All I can see is the white and I scream. He tells me it is he and not to cry. I was taken to the bed. I don't remember from that until the doctor came." In the same hypnotic state she also gave some further details of her experience, in which she 82 THE HYSTERIA struggled, bit, and was finally rendered unconscious through the use of chloro- form. The emotional shock occurred when the patient was only eight years of age, and we hope to show that the disso- ciating effect of this emotion was directly responsible for the mental and physical aspects of her hysterical condition. While relating these experiences in hyp- nosis, the emotional reaction was quite dramatic. She sighed, shivered, grated and gnashed the teeth, the whole body trembled, the left arm twitched, and the facial muscles became distorted into an aspect of agony and fear. Occasionally she would scream "Ghost," "white," "that smell." In other words while hypno- tized, the patient lived over again the har- rowing experiences of years previous. On being awakened from hypnosis even in the midst of the state of fear, all ab- normal symptoms would cease at once OF LADY MACBETH 83 (except the twitching of the left arm). The patient had no recollection of either the peculiar phenomena during hypnosis or of her narration of the experiences." It will be noticed that in many ways, this rehearsal of the original emotional ex- perience in hypnosis, which is really an artificial somnambulism, strongly re- sembled the hysterical somnambulism of Lady Macbeth. One of the most remarkable cases of somnambulism reported, is a case of Irene, given in detail by Janet. This case also bears a close resemblance to the phenomena displayed by Lady Macbeth. Irene Was a young girl, twenty years of age, who, as the result of emotions caused by the death of her mother, for two years presented a severe hysterical state, characterized essentially by crises of somnambulism with hallucinations and a complete loss of memory for each 84 THE HYSTERIA somnambulistic attack. . The condition is described by Janet as follows — "We come back to the common story of a young girl twenty years old, called Irene, whom despair, caused by her mother's death has made ill. We must remember that this woman's death has been very moving and dramatic. The poor woman, who had reached the last stage of consumption, had lived alone with her daughter in a poor garret. Death came slowly, with suffocation, blood vomiting, and all its frightful proces- sion of symptoms. The girl struggled hopelessly against the impossible. She watched her mother during sixty nights, working at her sewing machine to earn a few pennies necessary to sustain their lives. After the mother's death she tried to revive the corpse, to call the breath back again; then as she put the limbs up- right, the body fell to the floor, and it OF LADY MACBETH 85 took infinite exertion to lift it again into bed. You may picture to yourself all that frightful scene. Sometime after the funeral, curious and impressive symp- toms began. It was one of the most splendid cases of somnambulism I ever saw. "The crises last for hours, and they show a splendid dramatic performance, for no actress could rehearse those lugu- brious scenes with such perfection. The young girl has the singular habit of acting again all the events that took place at her mother's death, without forgetting the least detail. Sometimes she only speaks, relating all that happened with great volubility, putting questions and answers in turn, or asking questions only, and seeming to listen for the answer; some- times she only sees the sight, looking with frightened face and staring on the vari- ous scenes, and according to what she 86 THE HYSTERIA sees. At other times, she combines all hallucinations, words, acts, and seems to play a very singular drama. When, in her drama, death has taken place, she car- ries on the same idea, and makes every- thing ready for her own suicide. She discusses it aloud, seems to speak with her mother, to receive advice from her; she fancies she will try to be run over by a locomotive. That detail is also a recol- lection of a real event of her life. She fancies she is on the way, and stretches herself out on the floor of the room, wait-, ing for death, with mingled dread and impatience. She poses, and wears on her face expressions really worthy of ad- miration, which remain fixed during sev- eral minutes. The train arrives before her staring eyes, she utters a terrible shriek, and falls back motionless, as if she were dead. She soon gets up and be- gins acting over again one of the preced- OF LADY MACBETH 87 ing scenes. In fact, one of the charac- teristics of these somnambulisms is that they repeat themselves indefinitely. Not only the different attacks are al- ways exactly alike, repeating the same movements, expression and words, but in the course of the same attack when it has lasted for a certain time, the same scene may be repeated again exactly in the same way five or ten times. At last, the agita- tion seems to wear out, the dream grows less clear, and gradually or suddenly ac- cording to the cases, the patient comes back to her normal consciousness, takes up her ordinary business quite undisturbed by what has happened." After the sleeping-walking episode comes the last scene of all — the final pic- ture of the catastrophe — the only possible solution of Lady Macbeth's mental dis- ease — namely her suicide. We are left completely in the dark as to the method of 88 THE HYSTERIA suicide — here both drama and chronicle are silent. The impulsion to suicide has occasionally followed an hysterical som- nambulistic delirium and likewise has occurred in the course of the attack. Lady Macbeth's mental disease has thus been followed through all the phases of its evolution, from the birth of the first complex in her mind to her final dissolu- tion and suicide. .The fundamental mechanism of the disorder was a repres- sion of certain emotional experiences leading to a mental dissociation and the reappearance of these experiences in som- nambulism. During the course of this essay it has been necessary to discuss two other phases of the tragedy, so closely are they bound up with Lady Macbeth's mental disorder namefy, — the criminality and epilepsy of Macbeth and the weird sisters as symbolizing a suggestion of crime and ambition. OF LADY MACBETH 89 The relentless fate of Greek tragedy, of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Rosmers- holm, also dominates the tragedy of Mac- beth. In Lady Macbeth there is a con- stant battle between free will and deter- mination. Determinism is triumphant, because Lady Macbeth cannot emanci- pate herself from the suppressed com- plexes which inevitably led to her mental disorder. She thinks she chooses her ac- tions whereas in reality they are chosen for her by the unconscious complexes. Macbeth is likewise the victim of the same mental mechanism. This ethical relentlessness of the trag- edy is due to the hysteria of Lady Mac- beth, with its strong, deterministic fac- tors. Because Lady Macbeth in her som- nambulistic state was different from Lady Macbeth in her waking condition, she suffered from a disintegration or a dissociation of the personality. In fact, 90 THE HYSTERIA it has been particularly pointed out by Morton Prince that all hysteria is a men- tal dissociation. Lady Macbeth's per- sonality was doubled, normal and abnor- mal, alternating, but at the same time co-conscious. The dissociation resulted from repressed, unconscious motives and conflicts, due, not to a sudden emotional shock, but to a series of repressed com- plexes. Thus in the tragedy of Macbeth we move in a kind of symbolized world. The Macbeth legend is a symbol and it conceals within itself the theme of child- lessness in the same manner that a dream may symbolize underlying strong, per- sonal motives and interests. This is the reality behind the symbolism. Macbeth is primitive, myth-like and it is now well recognized that the formation of myths and legends has the same mechanism as the formation of dreams. In Macbeth as OF LADY MACBETH 91 in dreams, we move in a world of super- natural activities — witches and ghosts, exaggerated and heroic deeds, even at times emotionless murders — a mechan- ism identical with dreaming. The witches are primitive myth creations, sex- less, yet old women, emotionless yet ex- citing to ambition, motiveless, yet fur- nishing the main motive of the tragedy. They are thoroughly Shakespearean and in them we see how the creative imagina- tion of the poet is related to the primitive myth maker. They wield their power over Macbeth (and secondarily over Lady Macbeth) because they stimulate his half -formed unconscious and repressed wish to be King. The witches are tfeas the instigators of the entire tragedy and of the unconscious wishes of the chief characters. They set its machinery in motion in the same way that a dream may be instigated by the events of the day. 92 THE HYSTERIA Thus their meaning becomes clear in the light of psycho-analysis. They are erotic symbols, representing, although sexless, the emblems of the generative power in nature. In the "hell broth" are con- densed heterogeneous materials in which even on superficial analysis one can dis- cern the sexual significance. If it be asked, why this particular symbolism? it is because they bring to maturity Mac- beth's "embryo wishes and half formed thoughts." When Macbeth shrinks, it is not from the horrors involved in their prophecies, but from his own imaginary wish fulfillment and mental conflicts. The shrinking is overcome, however, by their constant harping and the uncon- scious wish becomes an obsession. This is the mental mechanism of Macbeth, which, by a kind of mental contagion he transfers to his wife and which finally develops in her, into a typical case of hysteria. 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